Jazz Articles
Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our Coming Soon page. Read our daily album reviews.
Sign in to customize your My Articles page —or— Filter Article Results
Ronnie Wood: Fearless: The Anthology 1965-2025
by Doug Collette
If the Ronnie Wood anthology Fearless proves anything, it is that the predominant virtues of the peripatetic British musician are largely intangible. Not that the guitarist, songwriter and singer is not talented in those various roles, but that his most salient attributes, at least as depicted here, as those of a convivial individual who invariably contributes to a nurturing atmosphere in a musical setting. Above all, the man known as 'Woody' serves the songs as well as his ...
Continue ReadingLady Blackbird: Slang Spirituals
by Gareth Thompson
In the aftermath of George Floyd's killing in 2020, the relatively unknown Marley Munroe dropped a cover of Nina Simone's 1966 song “Blackbird." Having adopted the title into her new stage name of Lady Blackbird, she took sombre pride in seeing this version chime with a fiercely engaged Black Lives Matter community. This came purely by zeitgeist chance after decades of endeavour to establish herself. “Blackbird" was also a taster for her 2021 debut album Black Acid Soul ...
Continue ReadingPaco De Lucia, Pepe De Lucia: Pepito y Paquito
by Joshua Weiner
In the internet age, the world abounds with musical prodigies. The instant availability of instructional videos on YouTube, sheet and tablature music sites, online megastores selling high-quality, inexpensive instruments shipped right to one's door, and online lessons make it easier than ever to learn how to play an instrument. Social media pages are full of videos documenting children as young as three exhibiting astonishing digital facility on the piano, guitar and violin. And yet few of these technically adept players ...
Continue ReadingJohn Lee Hooker: The Best of Friends
by Doug Collette
In contrast to his often (always?) irascible peer Chester Burnett, aka Howlin' Wolf, John Lee Hooker has long been amenable to collaborations, reciprocal and otherwise. Bonnie Raitt, Los Lobos, Charlie Musselwhite and Carlos Santana, among others, appeared on The Healer (Chameleon,1989) and all those artists also populate the credits for The Best of Friends. (Santana, the Mexican-born guitar hero, appears with two different iterations of his band). Fittingly titled, this anthology is a suitable companion piece to Whiskey ...
Continue ReadingPat Metheny: Dream Box
by Nenad Georgievski
Guitarist Pat Metheny pushes the boundaries of musical exploration once again with Dream Box, Featuring nine “found tracks" for the quiet electric guitar, this collection showcases Metheny's spontaneous creativity and unique musical vision. During a deep dive into his own musical archives, Metheny unearthed a folder on his laptop's hard drive containing forgotten recordings that surprised even him. As a result, Dream Box takes a departure from his previous works, presenting a blend of compositions that captures the essence of ...
Continue ReadingDr. John: The Montreux Years
by Dave Linn
New Orleans is considered the birthplace of jazz. In the late 1800s, the city was a melting pot of different cultures, including African, European, and Caribbean. This cultural diversity had a profound impact on the music of the city. The new sounds of Dixieland and ragtime became the foundation in the evolution of jazz. Artists such as Buddy Bolden, King Oliver, Louis Armstrong, Sidney Bechet and Jelly Roll Morton became the leaders of this new music. It was ...
Continue ReadingChick Corea: The Montreux Years
by Mike Jurkovic
Did Chick Corea ever disappoint? Did he ever fail to cast a sense of wonderment and community on any live performance? Did his mischievous hands ever land on a bad note? If so, it seems never happened at the Montreux Jazz Festival, where Corea spun his spell twenty-three times over the years, and certainly not on the fabulously curated The Montreux Years. Available in a host of configurations, the set blasts off with “Fingerprints" from 2001with Christian McBride ...
Continue ReadingChick Corea: The Montreux Years
by Doug Collette
If there is anything more ambitious than curating an extensive, comprehensive collection covering the history of an artist, it is collating selected works which vividly outline a particular timeline or theme. Chick Corea's The Montreux Years is a fine example of the latter; this seventh edition in the archive series devoted to the iconic festival not only reflects the late composer and pianist's technical skills, but also his eclectic stylistic tastes. And that is not to mention his fondness for ...
Continue ReadingJohn McLaughlin: The Montreux Years
by Ian Patterson
Montreux Jazz Festival and John McLaughlin have shared a special bond since the English guitarist first performed at the internationally renowned Swiss festival in 1972, with The Mahavishnu Orchestra. Since then, the ever-searching McLaughlin has returned numerous times, with almost every formation he has ever led. This double vinyl or single-CD release is effectively a sampler, as all bar one of these tunes appeared on the mammoth 17xCD box set John McLaughlin Montreux Concerts (Warner Bros Records, 2003). The one ...
Continue ReadingChrissie Hynde: Standing In The Doorway: Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan
by Doug Collette
The existence of Chrissie Hynde Sings Bob Dylan might well have been inevitable, if only because she and The Bard share some patently obvious personality traits, not the least of which are a staunch independence and a healthy, if wickedly wry, sense of humor. But even conceptions of the greatest clarity don't necessarily lead to so stunning an execution as this one. As much or more than anything else, Standing in the Doorway represents a figurative escape from ...
Continue Reading
